Our 10 Point Plan for Environmentally Sustainable Housing

In March 2021, Dover and Deal Green Party put in a comprehensive 15 page response to the new local plan, suggesting a number of ways that it could become a Local Plan better able to resolve social injustices,  better able to protect and restore a depleted natural environment, and become a Plan with  genuine ‘climate vision’. View the article here. Since last year, the issues of food and fuel security have become much more acute, and are driving our cost of living crisis. To enhance food security in Britain, we need to retain farmland, farmland with healthy soils, with natural pollinators. We applaud the many farmers in East Kent whose vocation to feed people means they resist the siren calls of property developers. To increase British fuel security we need to make new homes warm, without the need for tenants and homeowners to buy so much gas and electricity, by deep insulating homes. It means building new homes to EPC A or ‘passiv haus’ as standard, with solar panels also as standard. Building brownfield inside town and village boundaries also means saving petrol costs for the many of us who can’t afford an EV vehicle. Your local Dover and Deal team of Green Party campaigners, led by John Lonsdale  have researched what is happening in more democratic parts of England and have come up with a 10 Point Plan for Environmentally Sustainable Local Housing. Three Green cllrs on Walmer Council, left to right, cllr John Lonsdale, cllr Mike Eddy, cllr Sarah Fisher. We hold 7 other town council seats.

Dover & Deal Green Party:  10 point plan for Environmentally Sustainable Local Housing

March 2022

1. We must urgently upgrade, renovate and insulate our current housing stock.
   Renovate not Demolish. All empty houses should be brought back into use.
   https://greenworld.org.uk/article/lewes-model-explained
   https://www.yahoo.com/now/uk-must-move-faster-insulate-010701647.html
   
2. Future building should be on degraded brownfield sites only.
   There are 174.25 hectares of brownfield already available in Dover District, according to the 2021 Brownfield Register. This is enough for over 5000 houses, 10 years of the 500 per year target.
   https://www.dover.gov.uk/Planning/Planning-Policy-and-Regeneration/Regeneration-and-Development-Opportunities/Brownfield-Register.aspx
   https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/6937/1558850.pdf
   https://stories.cpre.org.uk/brownfield-is-best/index.html
3. Genuinely affordable housing must be at least a guaranteed 35% of all developments in the district.
   Research shows residents of Dover District desperately need high quality, affordable housing, not more luxury homes.
   https://www.35percent.org/
4. Dover District Council should be building cheap to heat, high quality, social rented housing themselves, at scale, as many other councils have done.
   https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2021/mar/06/eco-homes-become-hot-property-in-uks-zero-carbon-paradigm-shift
   https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/3rgQ8SvcsZrrgBt6Y8rs7rX/goldsmith-street-wins-the-riba-stirling-prize-2019
   https://www.cpre.org.uk/explainer/why-is-there-a-housing-crisis-and-what-to-do/
5. All developments must include low or zero energy sustainable buildings, with energy generation and storage plus increased biodiversity.
   This is essential both for the owner/ tenant’s low running costs now and in the future, and to combat climate change, and increase Britain’s fuel security.
   https://www.passivhaustrust.org.uk/what_is_passivhaus.php
   https://energysavingtrust.org.uk/passivhaus-what-you-need-know/
6. Greenfield sites should be for sustainable agriculture or nature only.
7. There should be zero building on greenfield sites in Dover District.
   We need farmland for Britain’s food security.
8. No more building land is needed in the near future.
   Dover District Council already had 6 and a half years supply of housing land in Jan 2022, its target is only 5 years worth. Land banking is rife and should be legislated against.
   https://www.theguardian.com/society/2021/may/08/over-1m-homes-in-england-with-planning-permission-not-built
9. End excessive profits for developers.
   The demand for over 30% profit, demanded on average, is unreasonable. It also excludes social housing, which has lower profits, and brownfield sites which need more preparation to build on than greenfield. A target of 18% profit on developments is far more acceptable and will allow the right kind of housing to be built.
10. End developer donations to political parties running local planning authorities.
    We must increase transparency in planning, to ensure it’s driven by local need not developer need. Developers paying for ‘independent’ reports, eg ecology, should be legislated against.
    https://www.kentonline.co.uk/ashford/news/house-builder-donated-thousands-to-tories-192267/